News Releases

July 05, 2005

Senate Committee Nods Approval for Increased Funding for Key CU Development Program

Washington, D.C. - Before
adjourning for the Fourth of July recess, the
Senate Appropriations Committee gave a major
funding boost to a program of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) that supports
international economic development through eight
U.S.-based cooperative development organizations,
including World Council of Credit Unions,
Inc. (WOCCU).

Acting on the appropriations bill passed by
the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, the full
Senate
Appropriations Committee approved funding for the
Cooperative Development Program (CDP) at the
level of $10 million. The appropriation still
requires approval on the Senate floor, as well as
to make it through the House and Senate
conference intact.

Until now, the CDP has been funded at the
discretion of USAID. Congress has shown support
for the program in the past by requesting that
USAID adequately fund CDP; their most recent show
of support was a bi-partisan letter to the USAID
administrator requesting a funding level of $8
million for fiscal year 2004. The program
received less than $5 million in 2004.

WOCCU's current CDP is a $3.7 million award
that began in 2004 and will continue through 2009.
With the CDP, WOCCU is able to "refine approaches
and develop methodologies to support global
credit union development. Through the
Cooperative Development Program, we are
supporting the establishment of credit unions
from the ground up in Afghanistan, training
credit union volunteers in Ecuador, and adapting
credit union products to the HIV/AIDS environment
in Kenya - but CDP is bigger than even those
significant activities. CDP allows WOCCU to
continue to provide credit union movements around
the world with innovative tools to improve the
lives of their members," said WOCCU governmental
affairs manager Molly Schar.

WOCCU worked closely with CUNA and a number of
state credit union leagues to activate grassroots
support for the earmark. "Members of Congress
hearing from their own constituents how important
this program is to international credit union
development - how important it is to improving the
lives of people in developing countries through
the credit union difference - helped us make this
great stride toward achieving increased funding
for USAID's Cooperative Development Program,"
said Schar.

Schar and CUNA's Katie Herberger co-chair the
legislative committee of the Overseas Cooperative
Development Council, a coalition of the eight
cooperative development organizations -
Americas
Association of Cooperative and Mutual Insurance
Societies, ACDI/VOCA, CHF International, Land
O'Lakes, NRECA International, Ltd., National
Telecommunications Cooperative Association and
WOCCU - that receive funding through the CDP.

World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 57,000 credit unions in 103 countries serve 208 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.